This invention relates to a stake system for supporting panels defining the sidewalls of a flatbed vehicle, and more particularly to a stake system wherein a universal stake is provided with adapters to permit its use in stake pockets of varying sizes and configurations.
Vehicles having open, unenclosed areas to accommodate loads of varying types and configurations are quite common. Examples of such vehicles are flatbed trucks and flatbed railroad cars. Frequently, such vehicles have a generally rectangular bed which includes a number of stake-receiving pockets positioned about the perimeter thereof. The stakes are elongated members positioned within the peripherally disposed stake pockets and are provided to restrain the load in the event it shifts, and to prevent it from falling off the bed. When relatively small articles are carried, and which could fit between adjacent stakes, panels are provided between the stakes to define sidewalls which serve to further contain the load being carried. The sidewalls can be of any particular height, ranging from several feet to about eight feet or so, depending upon the particular load involved. The panels are held in position by slots which are usually integral with and carried by the stakes, and into which the side ends of the panels fit.
If it is desired to cover such an otherwise open vehicle to protect the load from the elements, a tarpaulin can be provided over the open top of the vehicle and secured to tie-downs positioned along the sides of the bed. In order to prevent the tarpaulin from drooping into the open area, and possibly being damaged by the weight of rain or snow, bow members are typically provided along the length of the bed to support the tarpaulin. Such bow members often extend across the bed with their ends received in suitable openings provided at the top ends of the stakes, the openings being either integral with the stake or provided by cap structures which fit over the top ends of the stakes and include apertures to receive the ends of the bows.
In the past, stakes were often individually sized to fit a particular stake pocket, and because of the wide variation in pocket sizes a large number of individually sized stakes was required to fit the various pockets. As a result, a user who operated such flatbed vehicles made by different manufacturers was not in a position to interchange the stakes. Additionally, the distributor of such stakes had to maintain a large inventory of variously sized stakes in order to permit the replacement of those which were lost, misplaced, or damaged.
Although various types of stake pocket adapters have been devised (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,764,177 and 3,841,695), such previous adapters were intended to be usable in variously sized stake pockets and oftentimes relied upon spring-type elements to permit the adapter to snugly fit within a particular pocket. However, when such variable size devices were utilized, as adapters, the stake could be easily tilted from an upright position to a position which was inclined to the upright position, and therefore the entire stake assembly would be undesirably less rigid.
Another prior art stake adapter arrangement, one which completely surrounds the lowermost portion of the stake, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,601. As there shown, the adapter either completely filled the space between the stake and the stake pocket, or the adapter is tapered in width and depth to permit it to be received in variously sized pockets. Unless the pocket itself is tapered to the same degree as the stake adapter, it is possible for the adapter to be held in the pocket, but in a less rigid fashion than if the adapter more closely fit the pocket, since the tapered adapter will make only line contact with a non-tapered pocket, the line contact taking place at the top of the pocket, which, again, permits undesirable inclination and movement of the stake from the upright position.